Alcohol Advertising and Consumption Consumption, Let Alone Harmful Consumption
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Getting the Alcohol advertising facts right on and consumption Advertising for alcoholic beverages is regularly under government scrutiny. Regulating and reducing the visibility of alcoholic beverages is seen as a convincing public health policy measure to reduce alcohol-related harm. Contrary to the general belief, alcohol advertising does not create the desire to consume, therefore banning advertising will not significantly reduce overall consumption, and alcohol-related harm will not automatically decline. This document aims to provide an effective toolkit to address questions surrounding alcohol advertising and its effects on consumption. KEY POINTS Does advertising for • Advertising for alcoholic beverages does not create consumption alcoholic beverages • In a mature market, the purpose of marketing is to differentiate influence among individual branded products – it aims to increase market consumption? share • There is very little scientific evidence that advertising influences young people – parental and peer approval are actually much Does alcohol more influential marketing influence • The current legislative framework, along with effective advertising self-regulation, ensures that young people under the legal young people? purchase age are not targeted by alcohol marketing • Virtually all scientific evidence demonstrates that alcohol advertising bans have no impact on overall alcohol consumption Are advertising bans • Experience in a number of countries (Canada, Norway...) confirms effective to reduce their ineffectiveness consumption? • Self-regulation does not replace statutory regulation, it complements an existing framework of law • A balanced and proportionate policy mix ensures that advertising Why should alcohol is legal, decent, honest and truthful, while remaining free to the advertisers be trusted tax payer, dynamic, responsive and flexible to “self-regulate”? • Sectoral and company-specific codes ensure that rules are tailored to the needs of all types of advertising, ensuring responsible advertising of alcoholic beverages 1 Does advertising Does alcohol Are advertising for alcoholic Why should alcohol marketing bans effective advertisers be beverages influence to reduce trusted to influence young people? consumption? “self-regulate”? consumption? KEY POINTS • Advertising for alcoholic beverages does not create consumption in mature markets • The purpose of marketing is to encourage competition between brands – it increases market share The real link between advertising of What is a mature market? alcohol beverages and consumption A mature market is one which has reached a certain state of stability marked by the absence of significant Advertising of alcoholic beverages growth. does not have a significant impact The market for alcoholic beverages has been a mature on overall consumption in a market for a long time in almost all countries of the world. Demand is stable, with no signs of major mature market evolution. Most of the literature to date does not point to a The lack of evidence on a link between significant causal link between advertising and alcohol advertising and consumption consumption, let alone harmful consumption. The determinants of individual behaviour are difficult The available literature on the influence to establish, but it is agreed that the factors are of alcohol advertising on consumption is numerous and their interrelation complex. Many inconclusive and unreliable scientific studies conclude that parental education and peer pressure are much more influential. Why? Because there are no studies of alcohol advertising which can effectively trace the “effect” of an ad from The role of advertising exposure through purchase to subsequent consumption behaviour. In a mature market, the purpose of marketing is to There is no reliable research which demonstrates a causal encourage competition between brands, not to link between advertising and consumption. Without such influence consumption of a product category. An demonstration, it is impossible to conclude legitimately increase in car advertising, for instance, will not lead to that advertising induces specific behaviours. an increase in car purchases. It will however influence Advertising is a progression through various stages. car buyers to choose between different brands and Behaviours are only influenced by advertising at the end models. of a 9-step process, beginning with exposure to the ad, and moving through paying attention to it, reacting Evidence indicates that while advertising does not favourably, comprehending it, agreeing with it, sorting increase overall consumption of alcoholic beverages, it and retaining its content, remembering it, deciding upon does have a measurable impact on market share for it and behaving in accordance with this decision. At any brands and substitution between brands. step of this tenuous process the causal chain can be broken. Most available literature is unable to Marketing and advertising create brand awareness. In a demonstrate a direct causality throughout these 9 steps. mature market such as the one for alcoholic beverages, Discussing the merits of several public health research it merely encourages competition between brands, studies, Nelson finds that ‘substantial shortcomings are which is both stimulating for the economy and found in the studies, which preclude a causal beneficial for consumer choice. interpretation’ (Nelson, 2011). 2 Does advertising Does alcohol Are advertising for alcoholic Why should alcohol marketing bans effective advertisers be beverages influence to reduce trusted to influence young people? consumption? “self-regulate”? consumption? Inconclusive and contradicting science The literature on the influence of advertising on alcohol consumption is lengthy and mostly contradicting. For every study finding a positive correlation between advertising and alcohol consumption, there is another one contradicting the sample, the methodology or the conclusions. Virtually all econometric, cross-sectional, and case studies have found that marketing has no or only modest effects on alcohol consumption (Broadbent, 2008; Neslon and Young, 2008; Nelson, 2007; Gallet, 2007; Lariviere et al, 2000; Duffy, 1999). The majority of available studies find that advertising does not target adolescents. But beyond the question of “target” three groups of scientists have reviewed the evidence on exposure, reviewing a nearly similar series of longitudinal studies assessing whether exposure to alcohol marketing is related to youth alcohol consumption. Their findings are highly contradicting: Anderson et al. reviewed 13 studies (only two of which stem from Europe), and found that ‘twelve of the thirteen studies concluded an impact of exposure on subsequent alcohol use, including initiation of drinking and heavier drinking amongst existing drinkers’. Smith & Foxcroft reviewed a quasi-similar body of literature and observed that ‘the effect of alcohol portrayals and advertising on the drinking behaviour of young people is a matter of much debate’. This review shows a modest relationship between exposure to marketing and drinking among young people: the strength of the association varies between individual studies. Furthermore, the authors highlight that all reviewed studies ‘fall short of the current [methodological] recommendations as set out in the STROBE statement’*. Finally, this study concludes with a question: ‘Does this systematic review provide evidence that limiting alcohol advertising will have an impact on alcohol consumption amongst young people? Not directly: (...) we cannot rule out that the effects demonstrated in these studies are due to residual confounding’. Finally, Nelson reviewed a body of literature almost identical to the one reviewed by Anderson et al. and Smith & Foxcroft. He concludes that a ‘brief review demonstrates that the evidence on alcohol advertising and youth is mixed, contradictory and inconclusive’. Although ‘studies present a conflicting set of results […they] are cited in an uncritical manner’. In a 2010 comprehensive review of all the literature – not only the longitudinal ones – Nelson finds that there is evidence of a ‘selection bias in the interpretation and use of results by researchers and health policy interest groups. […]’. Most research claiming to evidence a causal link indeed rely on a “cherry picking” selection of literature – often excluding “neutral” or negative studies – the ones which do not find evidence. A main conclusion of Nelson’s meta-analysis is that ‘the effect of alcohol marketing on adolescent drinking is modest, but the evidence indicates that it may not exist at all for mass media and other exposures’. * The STROBE statement is a standard of research aiming at strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology. It consists of a series of check-lists for each type of research. www.strobe-statement.org/ ________________________ Anderson P., de Bruijn A., Angus K., Gordon R. and Hastings G. 2009. Impact of alcohol advertising and media exposure on adolescent alcohol use: a systematic review of longitudinal studies. Alcohol and Alcoholism. Smith L. A. and Foxcroft D. R. 2009. The effect of alcohol advertising, marketing and portrayal on drinking behaviour in young people: systematic review of prospective cohort studies. BMC Public Health. Nelson J. P. 2008. Reply to Siegel et al: alcohol advertising in magazines and disproportionate exposure. Contemporary Economic Policy, 26(3): 493-504. Nelson, J.P. 2010. Alcohol